1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing security. More specifically, the present invention relates to email viewing security.
2. Background Information
With advances in integrated circuit, microprocessor, networking and communication technologies, increasing number of devices, in particular, digital computing devices, are being interconnected together. The increased interconnectivity of computing devices have led to wide spread adoption of various network dependent applications, such as the world wide web and email.
Ever since the beginning of computing, data security has always been a concern of the users as well as the system administrators. The concern applies equally to emails. Unfortunately, under the prior art, protection of emails has primarily been confined to system access control, i.e. password protected log-in to access an email system, or encryption. While both measures are useful, the former is not always effective, as it is well known that many users leave their systems unattended after log in, and do not employ password protected screen savers. As to encryption, most novice or even moderately sophisticated users find encryption difficult to use, as typically, one has to register with an encryption key service and have a public/private key arrangement established.
Recently, some email programs/services also offer auto destruction, i.e. upon viewing of an email, the email will be automatically “discarded”, or auto expiration by date, i.e. an email automatically becoming unavailable after an expiration date specified by the email sender. Depending on individual needs and preferences, some users find auto destruction too rigid, others find expiration on a date certain basis does not meet their needs, e.g. different recipients may be out of office or on vacation for different lengths of time.
Regardless, history has taught us that there is no end to meeting security needs. It is an evolving process, and new challenges emerge from time to time. Thus, additional easy-to-use security measures, even of limited effectiveness, are desirable.